Atlantic splashes out £520m on First Telecom

It's been a busy time for Atlantic Telecom. First, the Scots telco launched a £49.99 per month ADSL service and as if that wasn't enough, it is snapping up First Telecom as part of its plans to expand into Europe. The share-swap deal is valued at £520 million. First Telecom was set up in 1995 by Mark Daeche and Mark Citron who still own 37 per cent of the company. From their initial investment of £250,000 the two are now valued at around £100 million each. First has 11,000 business and 292,000 residential customers. Prior to the Atlantic deal it had planned to float. Atlantic's high-speed Net service goes live in Glasgow straight away and will be rolled out in Newcastle and Manchester later in the year. ®